We’ve entered draft week across the NHL, and as fans feverishly study up on this year’s class of eligible prospects, I thought it would be fun to look back and give grades to the Seattle Kraken’s four NHL Entry Drafts to date. Grading their drafts at this point is a little like judging a cooking competition halfway through meal prep. Sure, you can see where it’s going, but there’s still plenty of time for things to come together… or fall apart.
The Kraken are only four drafts into their existence, and many of the players they’ve selected are still in college, junior hockey, or just starting to scratch the surfaces of their pro careers. Still, with a few seasons of development in the books, we can start to evaluate trends, hits, misses, and what those drafts tell us about the Kraken’s performance to date. So, keeping in mind that there’s a lot of runway left for all the players they’ve selected, here’s a look at how the Kraken’s first four NHL Entry Drafts are shaping up.
2021 NHL Entry Draft
The Kraken’s first draft year featured the fewest picks they’ve ever had in a single draft, with just the seven standard selections. Matty Beniers looked like a smash hit after his 2022-23 Calder Trophy season but has cooled off since. He’s still very young and has another season or two before we’ll know whether he’s a true first-line center or if he’ll settle into a secondary role. Beniers did show some progress after the arrival of Kaapo Kakko, and it will be interesting to see how things play out next season. A few players from that class—Wyatt Johnston, Dylan Guenther, Matthew Knies, Luke Hughes—have shown flashes, but nobody has pulled away as a bona fide superstar just yet.
Outside of the first round, Ryker Evans is showing a lot of promise. He hasn’t established himself as a high-end defenseman, but he’s only had one full NHL season. Ryan Winterton looked to be on a great trajectory in 2023-24, and while expectations were high that we’d see more of him in the NHL, he’s technically ahead of schedule. He’s already played 21 NHL games, 19 more than the next-most games played by a third-round pick from that draft.
Both Ville Ottavainen and Jacob Melanson made their NHL debuts during the 2024-25 season, each appearing in one game. Meanwhile, Semyon Vyazovoi, a longshot seventh-round goalie from Russia, is starting to look less like a longshot after a strong year in the KHL that included some big-time performances. Lastly, Justin Janicke, another seventh-rounder, signed an AHL deal with Coachella Valley. The odds are always long for players taken after Round 2, but at this point, every Kraken pick from this draft has exceeded expectations.
Overall Grade: B+
Beniers’ future as a top center remains TBD, but the overall draft class is tracking well above average, especially for the later rounds.
2022 NHL Entry Draft
The 2022 draft was a busy one for the Kraken, and the most memorable moment was Shane Wright unexpectedly falling to them at No. 4. In Wright’s first full NHL season (2024-25), he showed encouraging progression. He finished with 19 goals and 25 assists, but the real optimism comes from his growth as the season went on—averaging just 0.25 points per game in his first 20 games, and 0.66 the rest of the way. Even with hindsight, the Kraken would still take him at No. 4.
Outside of Wright, Jani Nyman was the only other player to appear in more than one NHL game, putting up three goals in 12 games late in the season. He looked the part of an NHLer, and it’d be a surprise if he doesn’t play at least 60 games next season. Jagger Firkus, Niklas Kokko, and Ty Nelson all had strong seasons with Coachella Valley and remain on solid development paths.
Folks. Jani Nyman's First NHL Goal. It's a beauty set up by the captain (his third primary helper of the game) #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/caLxRtKnYo
— Alison (@AlisonL) March 13, 2025
David Goyette, meanwhile, had a bit of a rollercoaster first pro season. After two 40-goal seasons in the OHL, fans hoped to see more than six goals in his AHL rookie year. That said, nothing was particularly concerning—he’s just on a learning curve.
NCAA prospects Ben MacDonald (Harvard) and Barret Hall (St. Cloud) are both producing steadily at the collegiate level.
Overall Grade: B
Most picks are tracking nicely, and 2025-26 will be a telling year for this class.
2023 NHL Entry Draft
Even the most optimistic Kraken fan has to feel a little nervous about Eduard Šalé, Seattle’s first-rounder in 2023. Nobody expected him to have reached the NHL yet, but his 2023-24 OHL season was underwhelming, and while he had a strong start to his 2024-25 AHL campaign, his performance tapered off later in the season. To be fair, he was a 19-year-old in the AHL, extremely young for that league, so it’s way too early to write him off. He also was outstanding in the IIHF World Junior Championship, scoring six goals and two assists as the captain of Team Czechia, so there is still plenty of potential.
Seattle’s second- and third-rounders, however, are trending nicely. Carson Rehkopf capped a fantastic OHL career and is poised to take a big step this season. Oscar Fisker Mølgaard had another excellent year in the SHL and is coming to North America for 2025-26.
Further down the draft board, most players are developing as expected, but it’s still too early to make firm calls either way.
Overall Grade: C+
Rehkopf and Mølgaard help the grade, but concern about Šalé weighs heavily. You have to hit on first-rounders.
2024 NHL Entry Draft
Okay, yes, it’s extremely premature to assign a grade to the 2024 draft class. But we’re doing it anyway. Kraken fans have to love what they’ve seen from Berkly Catton. It’s not just the points or goal scoring—he’s showing signs of becoming a well-rounded, play-driving center who takes pride in his game at both ends of the ice. He’s done all he can do in the WHL, and since the AHL isn’t an option, most expect him in the NHL this season.
Julius Miettinen showed a ton of promise in the first half of the season with Everett, but an injury at World Juniors kept him out most of the second half. He looked good when he returned, but it would’ve been nice to see a full campaign.
One big early surprise is Nathan Villeneuve, a physical, fearless player who stood out in preseason. In fact, in four years of watching Kraken prospects in exhibition games, Villeneuve was one of the first who looked like he actually belonged.
Wow! Nathan Villeneuve with a rocket one-timer! 🚀
Bjorkstrand sets him up, and the youngster gets a pretty goal and a nice little “sheath the sword” celly. 🗡️ #SeaKraken
4-1 Flames. pic.twitter.com/MGPsw9XY0c
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) September 23, 2024
Further down the list, Alexis Bernier and Kim Saarinen took strong steps forward, while Oliver Josephson, Clarke Caswell, and Jakub Fibigr all had solid seasons.
Overall Grade: A-
Yes, it’s early. But Catton’s play and Villeneuve’s trajectory have Kraken fans rightfully excited.
Final thoughts
Four drafts in, it’s clear the Kraken are building with patience and purpose. They’ve managed to find value in nearly every round and haven’t missed wildly on any picks, though Šalé’s trajectory will be important to monitor. The foundation is there. The real question now is how Seattle can turn its impressive group of prospects into regular NHL contributors and a contending roster in the future.
As the 2025 draft approaches, the pipeline is in a healthy spot, but the next wave needs to start arriving in full. The Kraken don’t just need young players, they need young impact players. Time will tell which names from these early drafts step into that spotlight.
Noticed that the WHL defenseman of the year, with 89 points in 65 games, Tyson Jugnauth, the 100th selection from 2022 wasn’t mentioned. Was that an oversight? Seems to be playing well?
Not an oversight. He had a great season but as a 20-year-old 4th round pick, you should be dominating the WHL. I like him but think we need to see him in front of tougher competition before we can a read on him.
Just adding to this, performance relative to your age is a big indicator of your eventual ceiling.
https://soundofhockey.com/2024/07/29/using-age-based-performance-to-evaluate-firkus-goyette-and-catton/
Totally agree. He basically flunked out of college hockey-wise, and had to play in a league with all younger players to have any success. I’m glad he did well but he’s a fringe prospect at best.
Hard to complain about their drafting, especially at the time without hindsight. Even the Sale pick was understandable as a higher risk, but with offensive upside missing in the org at that time.
The one decision i disagreed with was passing on Lane Hutson 4 times despite his unique talent level at a position that’s not easy to find.
I know the Hutson miss gets thrown around a lot but there are 20 or so other teams that didn’t select him either and always think that kind of comparison is very narrow to only focus on the last team to miss him. Most of my analysis is comparing to what is expected out of a player drafted at the position and not necessarily who they should have picked with hindsight.
After the first round, I tweeted out if he was still available at 34 they should run to the podium to select him. While other Teams did pass, they didn’t have FOUR (!) 2nd round picks to take a risk on his size. They were in a perfect spot to take that risk and it was painful to watch each pick in that round get used on less talented players.
I tossed in my (relatively uninformed) two cents on this topic a few weeks ago. Kraken’s farm system ranking has generally been in the 10-12 range by various evaluators, but a couple of websites mentioned that while the Kraken get kudos for a deep prospect pool, they lack top-tier talent. Using hindsight for any evaluation is at least a little unfair in that it comes from a “geez what would a perfect draft have looked like” perspective” and no team ever achieves that. But here goes anyway:
Beniers performance has flattened out per your observation, IMHO he’s really a 3C on a playoff caliber team which would be disappointing give he was picked 2nd overall in 2021. Wyatt Johnson would have been a much better pick and has shown more than “flashes.” Yes, he benefits from playing on a team with a far superior roster, but his point totals have increased every year, and he’s been a 30+ goal scorer the past two seasons.
I think Shane Wright’s well rounded game will continue to grow; his upside (on a playoff team) is that of Patrice Bergeron. Here’s hoping it happens. In the same (2022) draft the Kraken had four 2nd round picks; they chose David Goyette one pick before Lane Hutson (ugh). I don’t think the diminutive Firkus or Goyette will ever be full-time NHL players. Jani was obviously a good pick. In 2023 they chose Eduard Sale – great skill (he excels when playing internationally on larger rinks) but his compete level is seriously lacking. He seems like a whiff to me. Gabriel Perreault will probably end up as a much better player.
Both Nyman and Rehkopf’s names have been tossed around as possibly trade candidates this summer. Both good picks, but if I had to keep one, I’d prefer Rehkopf as (again IMHO) as he’s a better skater, a scorer (not just a shooter) and has a better all-around game.
As I’ve said before, I’m just a guy with a pair of rusty skates and a Barcalounger; would love to know what others think.
I understand the logic but I do think it is a bit too early to call Beniers a 3C. Somewhat ironically Matty is known to be a better defense center (i.e. a bergeron type) but that could be because Shane still has some time with only has one season under his belt.
John – agree that it’s probably too early to consign MB to 3C status. I’m certainly no expert and would be delighted to be wrong of course. Interesting in that more than one person has made the comparison between Bergeron and Beniers given MB’s defensive prowess. My comparison is more “stylistic in nature.” It’s eery how similar they look on the ice- skating, quick shot etc.
I think your analysis is mostly fair aside from 2 things.
1) I think it’s still to early to call Beniers a 3C. We need to see more consistent goal production out of him, which seemed to uptick with the addition of Kakko as John noted, but we also saw it in his Calder season and know the potential is in there. What gets underrated is just how elite his defensive play is for a center his age, which makes him all the more valuable in your top 6 in the playoffs.
2) I haven’t seen anything yet to suggest Firkus wont make the NHL. We know he’s small, but it’s also odd to call him diminutive right as you wax about them not taking Lane Hutson. If anything, Hutson is proof that small players with the right skill and IQ can make an impact. Firkus started slow in the AHL, but he finished with 15 goals and 21 assists over a .5 PPG rate his first season in the AHL. That’s a good start, especially considering his size. He has enough height to add a bit more weight to his frame, I think if he continues to progress over the next couple of years and gets closer to 170 lbs he has the sheer skill to make it.
Yah I’m no expert and hope I’m wrong on MB. His rookie season was great and (like the whole team) his production dropped significantly the next season. Last season was a modest bounce back, I hope he builds on that. I wondered about MBs production with KK, who was acquired on Dec 18 I think. Out of curiousity I totalled MB’s production beginning Jan 1 through end of season; his totals were 14/9/23 in 44 games about .52 pts/game, which was almost exactly the same ppg production Oct-Dec. So I haven’t seen increased production yet.
Regarding Firkus – I saw him play a just a few times in WHL and he’s he was combination of an opportunistic scorer around the net and a sniper (loved to camp out mid left-circle on the power play). Interestingly, the other thing I noticed was he seemed to be an excellent passer. So he’s a heady, saavy player who doesn’t have great speed or skating skills; that’s where my opinion comes from. But I’m not a scout and I could easily be overlooking some of the subleties to his game. Bulking up a bit would certainly help.
TFL… I appreciate your takes and you’re someone I always listen to and think about what you’re saying… but here comes the big but… I think you’re wrong on this.
On Beniers I think you’re discounting the fact that he has a fully developed defensive game down the middle at age 21. Corey Sznajder was calling him out as one of the absolute best defensive centers in the entire NHL last season – let alone among rookies. Look at what happens when other young “superstar” centers are asked to defend. Former video game cover boy Trevor Zegreas just got traded for Ryan Poehling and “all-world” Wyatt Johnston just put up a -16 in 17 playoff games.. the worst number of any player in the salary cap era.
Speaking of ±/-… Lane Hutson just put up five points in five games in the playoffs… and still managed a -5. He pulled that off even though he had 87.5% of his starts and faceoffs in the offensive zone. Remember Montour blowing by him in overtime to score in four seasons? As Corey Pronman mentioned (the Athletic) what he was hearing around the league, “Yeah, but can you win with that guy?”… meaning can you win in the playoffs. The answer so far seems to be with Lane Hutson… “No”.
I think Jonh has a pretty good read on the prospects in the Kraken system and I think a lot of the second guessing is just that… and impatience.
It would be nice if the Kraken had Celebrini… but they don’t. I don’t think that means they’re a waste of time. The absolute premier No.1 centers in the league right now have one Cup between them – MacKinnon. Where did all the rest go?
Go Kraken!!!
Per my replies above, I would love to be wrong on MB. Does have great defensive skills. With Marchment on board, I’d love to see McCann paired up with MB and KK just to see if that helps his (and the team’s) offensive production. Regarding centers – Mackinnon and McDavid are just two examples. But Steven Stamkos, Braden Point, Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosbey have all won two each. If you Include Mackinnon, their respective teams have won 7 of the past 10 Stanley Cups. Ellite center play is a necessity to compete for the Cup, but doesn’t guarantee you’ll get one.
Thanks for your call out on Wyatt Johnson – I didn’t realize that his playoff performance was so dismal so my bad on that. I still like Lane Hutson – yes his playoff performance suffered, but he did have an excellent regular season and think he’ll do more of the same next year. Now if his future playoff performances continue to be subpar…….
My initial post had somewhat negative, hindsight is 20/20 quality to it. But to be clear I am high on a few prospects. I think Ty Nelson is a great D prospect and could be 1D or 2D in the future. Hopefully one of Ville Ottavainen and Caden Price become (at least) part of a 3rd pairing on defense. In terms of forwards, I think Rehkopf and Catton have legit 2nd line potential at NHL level. Right now, I think Nyman’s upside is a 3rd liner; if Firkkus gets to that level it would be a bonus. A player not mentioned much is Julius Miettinen – still young and injured part of last year. But in watching him play he’s improved his physical play YoY. I think he’s a sleeper. Sale needs to improve his compete level/physical presense to have any chance.
Considering where Beniers and Wright are and where this team has been, I’m still optimistic about what they can become. The centers you mentioned were all one-two pairs and I think that’s a distinct advantage that Seattle has. Those guys may not be Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, but they’re still both very young with plenty of upside. I’m probably being naive, but I’m optimistic about the center core, it’s most of the rest I worry about.
I don’t think Botterill is done, so I’ll be curious what tools Beniers, Wright and Stephenson end up having available to them next season.
I’m curious about Ty Nelson. I’ve only watched him a few times and he obviously plays above his size, but hand-in-hand with what you were saying about centers, whose the last team you saw win a Cup with that guy as their No.1 D? Ultimately, as entertaining as Hutson is, I don’t think he can be a true contenders top defenseman, and I think the same could be true of Nelson… but second pair? Maybe.
Just four days until Seattle adds another center… or maybe Porter Martone.
I lived in the Bay Area for almost 20 years and of course followed the Sharks. Ty Nelson reminds me of Dan Boyle. He’d have to be paired with a stay-at-home type player of course, but I could live with that.
The one comparison John didn’t make when doing the comparisons for Beniers and Wright, was Beniers and MacKinnon. Statistically Beniers career has some resemblance there, MacKinnon didn’t really take off in points until year 5 after also having won the Calder but had 3 “bad” years after winning the Calder (38, 52, and 53 points, Beniers is at 37, and 43 respectively).
Reinhart is a great example as well – his production didn’t really take off until he ended up with Florida, despite being drafted #2 overall
Matty’s development has been very similar to his – #2 overall, a team without a lot of talent, leaned on defense first
It’s not that uncommon
I know about MacKinnon’s trajectory but avoided direct player comparisons since I felt that was more confirmation bias. I.e. we want Beniers to be elite, so we find an elite player that was on a similar trajectory. I looked at some more top centers yesterday to compare where they were at the same age as Matty and Shane (vs comparing just NHL games played). There are plenty of examples of players having similar seasons as Matty and Shane. Suzuki, Hintz, and Point all had similar or less seasons that Matty and Shane did at their ages. I think there is still a lot of potential to both of them being high end centers in the league…especially as the team puts more talent around them.
I saw the final Chiefs game this year and Gavin McKenna was the second best player on the ice in my opinion. Catton Was very dominant and it was clear that the Chiefs game plan was to run as many pucks through Cattons stick as possible. To be fair McKenna is a lot younger than Catton and definitely has a higher ceiling because of that. One thing that concerns me though is that he got blown up a lot, I’d say at least 4 hits that completely flattened him. The type of hits that make you wonder if he’s ok, he bounced back up every time. I just wonder how he will be able to deal with the NHL physical play.
In regards to Matty he is so underrated by Seattle fans, he has a very complete game. I see him finishing out as a very good second line center. In his draft class there is nothing wrong with that, he’s far from a missed pick.
Sale I fear was a huge mistake, you need to draft for compete level. Victor Eklund is a player that I don’t feel like we should pass on. You need skilled players with high compete levels that can play a physical game to win a cup. Look at FL, Eklund is a player that would fit very nicely into their lineup.
Speaking of draft picks…
Bob McKenzie’s list came out this morning. Schaefer (No.1) is the only defensemen in the top ten. Mrtka, Smith and Aitcheson come in Nos.11, 12 and 13 respectively. At No.8 he has Martin, one spot ahead of McQueen and one spot behind Hagens.
I can’t say I honestly know much about any of these players, but I’ve been hearing Martin’s name higher lately.
Hey @Curtis, will we be getting a Big Board this year? Feeling very unprepared four days before the draft!
Maybe a different viewpoint which has not been discussed much but I think where the Kraken have done their best work in drafting is, oddly enough, at picking goaltenders. All of Kokko, Saarinen, and Vyazovoi look like future NHLers, so a pretty high hit rate on G picks.
For Friday, its looks like the expected top six will be gone, so at no. 8 the Kraken will have 5 shots out of 6 at McQueen, Martin, O’Brien, Eklund, Mrtka, or Smith. Wonder which way they will lean, as those players signify different aspects?
I’d be too intrigued by McQueen’s combination of size, speed and skill to pass him up even with the injury risk. Out of the remaining players I think he’s got the highest ceiling to be a dominant player.
In the tape I’ve watched he hasn’t impressed me with his defensive awareness. I know he’s young and can develop that side of his game but on the flip side he’s also playing against young players that have more defensive awareness…. He will be drafted somewhere around our pick but I just feel Eklund is just a much safer choice.
Good point on goalies – I always overlook the position as I know nothing about the position.
Initially I liked the idea of Mrtka or Smith. After looking at some tape, Eklund just jumps out at me, a really dynamic player. I hope they pick him.